


Forget Me Not

by HylianHarmony



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Gen, POV First Person, The Hero of Twilight - Freeform, The Hero's Shade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26513983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HylianHarmony/pseuds/HylianHarmony
Summary: On his way to the final battle, Link enters Hyrule Castle Courtyard and finds a boy forgotten by time.
Relationships: Link & Midna, Link & The Hero's Shade
Comments: 5
Kudos: 74





	Forget Me Not

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FriedCuccoLady](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriedCuccoLady/gifts).



> This story was written two years ago for my best friend. At the time, I did not feel confident enough to post it. But recently I was looking through old documents on my computer and stumbled across it. After reading it over, I realized that I like this one-shot more than I thought I did, and since I have nothing else to offer for the time being, I've decided to post it. I tweaked some wording here and there for readability, but for the most part it is true to the original.   
> ~Hylian Harmony
> 
> P.S. FCL, I took your feedback and removed the Silent Princesses. You're right, they had no business being in that garden.

As dreary and monster infested as it was, it was still home. Of course, it was vastly different than I remembered. Time seemed to do that. Change people. Things. I knew that better than anyone else, and yet I couldn't help scrutinizing every inch of the castle and its surrounding grounds, remembering the way it used to be.

My old route through the gardens was no longer there. I guess they wizened up after a little kid managed to weasel his way in to see the princess multiple times. It was heartening to see, knowing that those under an obligation to see to the royal family's safety had taken steps to ensure it. Not that it had done much in the long run.

"Hey!" That was the new hero's voice. Without breaking stride, I glanced over my shoulder. He was probably yelling at a monster to grab its attention or maybe even at his companion. I knew I'd done both on a plethora of occasions. But the Hero Chosen by the Gods wasn't addressing a monster or his partner. He was looking directly at me.

My feet faltered to a stop. Until now, it had been like I was wearing the Stone Mask, invisible to all.

"This isn't a place to play. It's dangerous," he berated me. At least, I assumed he was berating me since I couldn't see anyone else in the immediate vicinity. But…play? I wasn't a child. In fact, I was his teacher, and he had no right to speak to me that way.

Before I could respond, the young man's shadow shifted and a curvaceous imp materialized next to him, expression unamused. "Who are you talking to?"

"Mid-!" He cut himself off, eyes shooting to me with concern. I stared back at him, nonplussed. I knew about Midna, and she didn't concern me. His reaction to me did, though. For all he knew, I could be a ruthless killer, and he was just gawping at me. He turned back to her. "There's a kid…" He gestured towards me, and the Twilight Princess threw a half-hearted glance in my direction.

"Stop messing around." Midna rolled her eyes. "There's no one there."

"Yes, there is!" Link insisted.

Midna's expression transformed into one of concern. "Are you feeling alright? Do you need a break?" A small smile crept onto my face at that. It was nice to see that she cared underneath all that flippancy. She reminded me of Tatl in that way.

"What? No. I'm fine."

"You're seeing things," Midna deadpanned.

"I am not," Link retorted, though he glanced at me nervously as if he didn't entirely believe that himself.

"Then why can't I see the kid too?" Midna challenged him, arms crossed and smirk playing on her lips.

A sound of frustration escaped the teenage hero. "I don't know. Maybe…" he turned to me suddenly. "Are you a ghost?"

"You know the answer to that already," I informed him.

Apparently, that wasn't good enough. "Yes, or no."

"No," Midna answered for me. I didn't particularly like her doing that. "If it—" I didn't particularly like being called an 'it' either "—was, I'd be able to see it too, and I can't so you're just plain crazy."

"Fine, I'm crazy then," Link conceded with a roll of his eyes.

"You're not crazy." My intention wasn't to make my descendant think he was insane, especially since he was the only person who knew I existed. "I am…no longer among the living." I abhorred the word 'dead' and refused to utter it. Death was a lie. It was supposed to release one of all his physical ties and worries. Except it didn't. I was still here, still suffering, just as I had in life. Only this time I was even more alone than before.

"Then why can't Midna see you?" he asked me, his tone cautious. Now that I held the status of ghost, I guess I wasn't so trustworthy. Which was smart. Most ghosts, in my experience, were jerks. I didn't like to think of myself as a jerk, though. I was nothing like those vengeful spirits I had stumbled upon so long ago. I liked to ally myself with ghosts like Darmani and Mikau. They hadn't been so bad.

I shrugged in response to his inquiry. I didn't know and wasn't going to pretend like I did.

Dissatisfied with my vague answer Link asked another question. "Why can I see you?"

I didn't know for certain, but I did have a theory. "You and I are bonded by blood. That's my best guess."

"But I don't have any siblings. Unless…" I could see the gears turning in his head and decided to spare him the headache.

"I am not your sibling." I crossed my arms over my chest and put a stern look on my face. "Are you telling me you don't recognize your own teacher?"

"Teacher?" He cocked his head to the side like a puzzled puppy. He certainly looked lost.

"Yes, teacher," I huffed impatiently. It was somewhat unfair of me to get so cross with him since I did look drastically different from before. Still, I wore the hero's green just like him. That should have been enough of a hint since I'd told him I had been a hero before.

"The one that taught me was an adult."

"Don't let your eyes deceive you," I advised him. "People wear masks all the time, as do monsters. Just because I appear to be a harmless child doesn't mean I am one. You will do well to remember that."

He nodded but still seemed uncertain. "So…you are the skeletal knight and the golden wolf?"

"Yes."

"Why change your appearance now?"

It was a fair enough question, and I answered it truthfully. "Because I can. Before, I was trapped in cursed forms. Now I can choose."

"Is that…what you looked like when you were alive?" He seemed hesitant to ask the question.

"Yes." I looked down at my small hands, scuffed my worn brown boot in the dirt. It didn't shift. "When I was a kid, anyway."

"I mean no disrespect, but…why are you here?" Link asked after a few beats of silence passed between us. "I thought we were done training. That you had eased your regrets and could pass on."

"Me too," I returned bitterly. "For whatever reason, I am stuck here, on this plane."

"And you have no idea why?" Link pressed.

I shook my head. "I can only think of one possible reason."

"Which is?"

My eyes pierced his, blue to blue. "I need to see you succeed."

"Do you think I'll fail?" The prospect alone seemed to wound him deeply.

My response was automatic but no less true. "No. So long as you heed my teachings, I believe you will succeed."

"I will heed them," he promised. "So there's no reason you need to see me succeed. There must be something else keeping you here. Is there anything else you ever regretted? Anything you wished for and never got?"

I frowned. "You shouldn't be helping me now. You have a quest to complete."

"It can wait for a few more minutes," he said stubbornly.

"It cannot," I snapped. A sudden gale tore at the surrounding plants, causing Link to flinch. "You are the new hero. You cannot dally for any reason. Especially when you are so close to the end and people are counting on you to save them."

"But if it's to help you-"

"You can do nothing for me."

"Then why are you here?" he demanded, anger evident in his own tone and body language now. "Why show yourself to me?"

I threw up my hands. "I don't know!" Frustration didn't feel like it used to in this form. It was wild energy, twisting my lack of insides around and giving me the urge to hit something. Maybe I was a vengeful spirit after all. The thought only soured my mood further.

"You've done so much for me; I want to return the favor," Link said, soft yet firm.

"After," I grunted, jerking my head towards the castle towering over us.

"Or during. I have a lot of this place left to explore. Walk with me, and we can talk while I do what I need to."

It was tempting. Especially since he was the only one that could see and hear me. "Only if you do not allow me to distract you."

"Never." He flashed me a wolfish grin that I didn't entirely trust.

Nonetheless, I found myself walking beside him through the gardens, stopping occasionally to watch him dispose of a monster or five. Usually five. The repulsive creatures were everywhere.

Fortunately, I was an excellent teacher, and my student never faltered.

"Maybe someone did something to your grave, and that's why you can't pass on," Link suggested, wiping his sword free of monster intestines on the grass.

"Maybe," I said, though it was unlikely. My grave wasn't much of a grave, and I didn't see how such a material thing meant anything.

"Do you know where you're buried?"

I kept my gaze trained ahead. "Here."

"Here?"

"In the graveyard," I clarified. "By a tree." The resting place of my body should have brought comfort to me, but it didn't. It wasn't my woods. It wasn't a wood at all. It was just a somewhat large tree in the castle's graveyard. But even if it had been my woods, even if I had been laid to rest beneath the remains of the Great Deku Tree, I still wouldn't be content. Because it was a lie. I wasn't one of the forest. I never had been.

Link's question dragged me out of my brooding thoughts. "Can you show me?"

"Your quest," I reminded him, though I appreciated his wanting to aid me. Just like a true hero.

"I'm going to have to search this whole place anyway," Link returned.

That, I could not deny, so I led him to the graveyard. Like the rest of the castle's grounds, it was infested with monsters.

I sat down at the base of the lone tree to wait, ignoring the silent spirits of soldiers nearby. They pointed at my grave the same way the Kokiri used to point at my fairylessness. Even these ghosts, who knew nothing of me, could sense something other. Something not quite right. The sensation must have been amplified with my presence because it pushed them away before long, like a fell wind. I was glad for it. I did not want their company.

Link joined me once he finished disposing of the intruders and peered down at the decorative depression in the ground. "Well, that's not much of a grave," he stated, frowning. "They didn't even put your name on it." His eyes flicked to me, then, curious. "What is your name?"

"Link."

"What?"

"My name is Link," I told him. "You're named after me." Unfortunately.

His facial expression was hilarious, and I wished I had a Pictobox to capture it.

"I'm…well, ahem." He cleared his throat. "Alright then…I'll just put your name on it. That should help, right?"

I shrugged.

"Is there anything else you want me to add besides your name?" Link wondered, as he crouched down and produced a knife from his pouch.

"…The Hero of Time." The words were but a whisper. I hadn't spoken them in ages and neither had anyone else.

My descendant only nodded and began to scratch at the stone with his knife.

Up until now, Midna had left us alone, content to let her hero be crazy on his own, but this seemed to be the last straw. "Link! Don't deface graves. You'll get haunted that way."

"I'm not defacing anything," Link protested. "I have permission to do this."

She scoffed at that. "Fine, if you get haunted, don't come crying to me." With that, she slipped back into the shadows, and Link resumed his work.

"You can do this later," I said. There was a slim chance of it working anyway.

"I'm here now," Link replied.

I made a face. Stubborn. But so was I. "You're wasting time. This is going to take forever." He had barely started on the 'i' in my name.

"Tell me something, then," Link invited me.

"Like what?"

"If I'm named after you, then what are you to me?"

I sighed. "I am your great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather."

"That's a lot of greats."

"I lived a long time ago."

Link smirked. "So you're an old man. Is that why you like appearing as a child? Missing your youth?"

"No." I bristled. "I'm not an old man. I never got to live that long."

The teasing expression on the young hero's face fled instantly. "I'm sorry. …How long did you live, if I may ask?"

"I don't know." And it was true, I didn't. I had been back and forth in time so often it was impossible to tell my true age.

Link paused in his scratching and looked over at me. "How don't you know?"

"I just don't." He didn't seem willing to let it go, so I threw him a bone. "You can decide for me. I'll age up as much as I can."

Before my descendant could protest, I took the last living form I had held. Growing taller and leaner, I soon towered over the new hero. Shiny armor weighed me down and my vision went one-sided. It was unfair that even as a ghost I didn't have perfect vision. It was why I preferred my younger forms. They were less battle worn. Easier to move around in.

Link peered up at me in awe and…something else. Sadness? Before answering. "Late twenties? Early thirties, maybe?"

I shrugged and reverted back to my ten-year-old self, relishing in my two intact eyes. "Live longer than me, got it?"

He smiled, turning back to his work. "Got it."

"Anything else you want to tell me?" Link asked a few minutes later, knife poised to finish the last letter.

I shook my head. I just wanted to rest.

Link carved out the final stroke of an 'e' and looked to me, expectant. I glanced around. Opened and closed my hands, itching for a sword. I could materialize one but there was nothing I could fight. Another few seconds passed uneventfully. I didn't torture myself with hope. Without a trace of hesitance, I walked away from the tree and my grave.

It hadn't worked.

Link ran to catch up to me. "We'll try something else."

"I told you it was a waste of time," I scolded. He shouldn't be prioritizing me. There was a princess that needed saving and an ancient evil that needed slaying.

"It was worth a shot," Link returned before lapsing into silence.

It didn't last long. "I've only ever heard of a legendary hero talked about. Is that you?"

"Yes."

"Why don't they use your name, then? Or your title? The Hero of Time?"

I gritted my teeth. "Because they don't know it. Here, I wasn't a hero. That all happened in a different timeline. I should still be there, but I was shut out by the princess."

"Why'd she shut you out?"

"She was trying to right a wrong," I replied honestly. "Unfortunately, she made it worse."

"Will you tell me your story?" he requested, causing me to stop dead in my tracks. "I mean…it's okay if you don't want to talk about it, but I just thought that maybe…if we are blood-related like you said, it'd be nice to know more about who my family was."

A wan smile tugged at my lips. Family. It was a hard thing to come by and an even harder thing to hold onto. "I'll tell you, but it's a long story."

"That's alright. I want to hear it."

And so, after urging Link to get moving again, I told him. I started with my childhood, how I had been raised as one of the Kokiri, forever fairyless and looked down upon until Navi came along. I told him about the Great Deku Tree's passing, finding out I was a Hylian, meeting the princess, collecting the spiritual stones, opening the Temple of Time, pulling out the Master Sword and unleashing chaos on the land. I told him how when I awoke seven years later, it was to a country ruled by evil and monsters. I told him how scared I was, how Navi comforted me and coached me through it all, how I awakened all the sages, jumping forward and back in time when needed, how I defeated Ganondorf and was sent back in time by the princess to live my childhood properly.

Though it pained me to say it even after all these centuries, I told him of Navi's abandonment and my desperate search for her that ended with me being thrust into a strange land doomed for destruction. I told him how I was charged with saving it, reliving the same days over and over again to gather the four giants. With an ache in my heart, I recounted my dealings with the Deku Butler's son, Darmani, and Mikau, how I healed their souls with a song, transformed them into masks and took their identities. This piece of information intrigued my descendant like no other, and so, at his insisting, I showed him, however briefly, the forms of Deku, Goron, and Zora I had taken once upon a time.

An influx of memories surfaced then, so fast and so overpowering that they spilled out of my mouth without my consent. I didn't know if my words made any sense. I just needed them out of me. And so I spoke of Kafei and Anju's tragic love and my role in reuniting them. I spoke of Romani's determination to save the cows from Them and my failure to protect her and the cows six times because I had been so exhausted. I spoke of Cremia's plight and her warm hugs, little Pamela and her father turned monster, the tortured spirits of Ikana Canyon, the Bombers Secret Society of Justice, and the elderly woman who would regale me with tales, always thinking I was someone else.

Words about Lulu and the band, the Goron elder and his son, the Deku Butler and the Deku Princess, the eerily familiar witches in the swamp, and even the monkeys, flowed out of my mouth like a river. I spoke about everyone I met and everything I did. How I had all the time in the world and yet, none at all. The hurt I felt each time I rewound time, knowing that I was subjecting these people that I knew so well and who didn't know me at all to suffering once more.

I couldn't save everyone no matter how hard I tried, and so I made sure that before I faced off against Majora, I saved Romani and the cows one final time. I didn't go until I knew she wasn't sitting on that crate of hers as an empty shell of the bubbly girl that reminded me so much, in looks and spirit, of a ranch girl I knew from Hyrule.

I spoke, briefly, of the final battle, not wishing to linger on the details of the fight between Majora and me, if only because I didn't remember much of it and was sure my memory loss had something to with the Fierce Deity. He unnerved me still. To this day, I was not certain what exactly the Fierce Deity was or had been. All I knew for certain was that his ruthlessness granted me victory.

After that adventure, I was sure I slept for a week straight, and I had never found Navi, just the Happy Mask Salesman, Tatl, Tael, and the Skull Kid, but they all left me soon enough, and I was on my own again.

I continued, for at this point it was impossible to stop, and recounted my becoming a knight for Princess Zelda. We were the same age physically, yet I was so much older than her mentally. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to engage in her childish games. I became her bodyguard, and later the Captain of the Royal Guard, though I knew if she tried, she could learn to protect herself, just as she had in that nightmare version of the future that only I knew existed. The future where she had trained under Impa's regime and become a ruthless Sheikah warrior.

I lost myself in the memories, unaware of where I was or what I was doing. It wasn't just a story. It was a life. My life. As filled as it had been with war and loneliness and pain, it had also been filled with something close to happiness at one point. I had Malon, the fiery-haired farm girl, to thank for that. I got along with her far better than I did with the young Princess Zelda. I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because living on a ranch gave Malon a sense of responsibility and maturity that Zelda lacked. Deep down, though, I suspected a different reason. I was still angry with Zelda, albeit a different version of her, for sending me back. I hadn't wanted to go back, but she had ignored my wishes and done it anyway.

So, despite the affection I knew the princess harbored for me, I settled down with Malon. Shortly after marrying, the two of us managed to bring a daughter into the world, and at my insistence, we named her Romani. The name fit her. She was spunky and wild with a shock of strawberry blonde hair that fluctuated between red and gold depending on the lighting. She was beautiful, and I loved her as much as I dared to love anyone.

Alas, I never got to see her grow up, though I know she did. My job as Captain of the Guard kept me busy, and I was away from home often. Too often, for my wife's and my daughter's liking, but it was necessary. Not for financial reasons but for my sanity. I couldn't cope with staying still, doing nothing. I had to be remembered somehow by the people of Hyrule. I needed the status I'd gained once before. At least, I thought I did, and so I embarked on any mission I was given, ready to save…to kill.

But the goddesses no longer favored me. I had been drained of my usefulness and cast aside. My attempt to redeem what once was had been foolhardy, only I hadn't seen it as such at the time. At the time, I had thought it was justified. That was my mistake and my downfall which landed me where I was now, sitting in the middle of the castle's gardens with my descendant, telling him my tale.

I blinked owlishly, taking in my surroundings as I drifted out of my own head. It seemed that I had been so intent on telling Link my story that I'd forgotten to egg him on. Here we sat among the neatly clipped hedges and many flowers, still pretty and sweet smelling despite the pall of evil hanging heavy in the air. Blood-red roses with velvety petals waved in the breeze alongside brilliant yellow buttercups, and blushing blue forget-me-nots.

A twinkle in the corner of my eye drew my attention to my hand. Curious, I looked down at myself and was stunned to find my palm sparkling like it had been dipped in fairy dust. I jumped to my feet, only to find that they, too, were the same way, as was the rest of my body.

Link stood as well. "Are you..?"

I felt a pull on my heart, or at least, where it used to be. I had to follow it. That much I knew. But I couldn't leave yet. There was something else I wanted—no needed—to say. Something I had heard quite a bit in my travels, but rarely spoken aloud. Now, it was my turn to say it.

Launching myself at my descendant, I enveloped him in a tight embrace, burying my face in his shoulder and hardly noticing that I had grown taller to match him, if not in height, then at least in age. Tears dripped from both of my eyes, but I didn't stop them. They were happy tears. Tears of relief. Tears for the loved ones I was finally returning to. I didn't have a right to stop them. They were part of the release, the going home.

Link was still in my arms, shocked by the hug.

"Thank you," I whispered with my last breath in the world of the living.

I slipped away just as Link went to embrace me back. Though I didn't feel his touch, I heard his words. "Rest well, Hero of Time. I will never forget you."


End file.
